A Hyuga, Or So They Said
by fandomslayer
Summary: when a pink-haired girl suddenly showed up out of nowhere in the Hyuga Compound, some people just couldn't help but keep an eye on her.
1. Chapter 1

**A Little Introduction from Our Neji Hyuga**

I was nine, almost ten—like, five months and a half away—when they brought her in, a young girl with a circle representing her clan drawn on her outfit. She was kind of cute, really, but that hadn't been the reason why I stared at her that whole day. It was because she had looked really out of place—everyone in the Hyuuga Manor had dark hair and Byakugan eyes, so when a _pink_ haired girl with bright _emerald_ eyes showed up out of sudden, you couldn't help but keep an eye on her, right? Yeah, right.

Turned out she was named Sakura Haruno, from the Haruno clan, and her parents had been killed by two rogue ninjas from the Sound Village. They hadn't been able to defend themselves since none of them was a real trained shinobi, so their attackers had no problem in finishing them. It was really sad, but it was not anyone's fault that they had been so weak! It was fated—the weak ones being beaten by the strong ones. What could we do? Still sad for their daughter, though.

On to the story. Hiashi-sama had volunteered to take her in, though I couldn't see any reason why would anyone took another weakling into a family with two weak girls—Hanabi-sama wasn't that weak, though, but Hinata-sama sort of covered it up. But we all knew that those Souke had always made stupid decisions, and we Bonke couldn't do anything about it, and _boom_ , they were already calling her Sakura Haruno-Hyuga, as if the Hyuga name had been something we achieved easily and not by fate. Tch. Those Souke.


	2. Chapter 2

**I think I forgot to put up a disclaimer on the previous chapter? Well, sorry! Just to let you know, I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. [because if I do, Neji and Jiraiya and Kushina and Minato and Itachi and—and many others, 'cus my sentimental side sucks—wouldn't've died. But, they did, so.]**

Chapter 1

Sakura woke up in the middle of the night, and for the first time in a long, long period, she was _fine_. She wasn't happy—she would never, ever, _ever_ go that far—but she was fine. She had been sleeping on nice, warm, comfortable bed in the luxurious Hyuga Manor, she hadn't cried herself to sleep the night before, she woke up with no dry eyes or sore back—which usually happened due to the crying-herself-to-sleep and sleeping-on-the-floor that had been previously mentioned. Briefly, she was fine.

 _Knock, knock._

"Sakura-sama."

Sakura practically jumped out of her bed when she heard the soft knocking on her door. She didn't know which one to be more surprised of, the fact that somebody was knocking on her door so early—or should it be so _late_? Sakura was scared, to put it on the very least, but then she assured herself that no robbers would ever _knock_ on their victim's door, and did the only logical thing someone in her situation would do—open the door.

"Yeah?"

And she realized that she had been a fool—the guy standing in front of her couldn't be a robber or a kidnapper or a thief or a sadistic murderer or anything _bad_. He was probably older than her by one or two years, and he wore a Konoha forehead protector— _which is kind of weird_ , Sakura had thought, _because why would anyone wear their forehead protector in the middle of the night?_ —and lastly, his eyes were Byakugan, indicating that he was a part of the Hyuga clan.

"Um… good evening?"

"Hiashi-sama is expecting your presence in the training ground right at this moment."

"P-Pardon?"

"Hiashi-sama is expecting your presence in the training ground."

"You've got to be kidding! It's _midnight_!"

Neji stared blankly at her like she was the stupidest creature he had ever came across, and he had seen many—he stupid ramen-boy, the stupid oh-I'm-so-emo Uchiha, his stupid green-spandex-wearing teammate. But none of them had been stupid enough to keep staring at him after talking back to him when he was annoyed— _"P-Pardon?"_ —or accused him for kidding when he was being serious— _"You've got to be kidding!"_ —or telling him something he had already known— _"It's midnight!"_. Neji mentally rolled his eyes at the girl as he turned around, his back now facing the girl, and muttered _this way_.

And as if she hadn't reached her stupidity limit yet, she _smiled_ at him.

 _There's no way denying it_ , Neji thought. _Her smile could make the Souke less pathetic and Hinata-sama less weak._

All she saw was two girls sparring in front of her, one of them noticeably smaller it almost seemed unfair for her. But nobody would think that, becase she was obviously winning, and her bigger and older opponent couldn't even place a good hit on her body. The man observing their movements, Hiashi Hyuga, seemed really upset, most likely at the bigger girl. _Is she really that weak_ , Sakura thought, feeling a little bit symphatetic for the losing girl. Sakura herself had gotten many experiences feeling weak and unappreciated, but she still couldn't put herself on her shoes—being weak enough to lose to a girl who was probably five years younger than you, then having your father's cold eyes staring at you in disappointment. _Even though my father died, at least he would never stare at me in disapointment. Or compare me to anyone else_. Thoughts like that made her want to cry, and she couldn't cry right now, so she just shook her head and adverted her gaze to the rude boy from earlier, trying to see his reaction of the whole thing—the two-girls-sparring-and-the-smaller-one-was-losing thing, the Hiashi-was-disappointed thing, the why-was-I-here thing—and realized that he had been staring at her since who knew.

"H-Hey. You."

Neji had never been addressed _not_ by his given name before—because everyone knew him as _the-prodigious-Neji, Neji-kun_ , or _youthful-Neji_ , or sometimes just _Neji_. But never _you_. Neji couldn't even think of how many stupid, idiotic, weak, ugly people with bad hair that had been substituted into the word _you_. _I'm not just a 'you'. I'm Neji Hyuga, damn it, bow down to me, I'm not 'you'!_

"Are they… are they siblings?"

"They're Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama, daughters of Hiashi Hyuga, the man standing there."

"Oh—Hinata… as in the Hyuga heiress?"

"Hn."

"Then why is her younger sister, Hanabi, stronger?"

 _Because it was fated, it was just fate, dumbass_ , Neji wanted to snap at her for being so stupid.

"Because that's the way it is. It's fate. She couldn't change it even if she wanted to."

 _Just like the Souke and the Bunke and the reason why my father died._

"She could. She could just train harder, and then she would become—"

"No, she could _not_. You think she hasn't trained hard enough? She trained twenty-four-seven. She had begun her training five years earlier than Hanabi-sama, but look. I mean, _look_. She's obviously losing to her younger sister, and she's failing, if not already failed."

"It's completely not true and you know it!"

"No, it _is_ true. Just—"

And their conversation ended with a loud _bam_ coming from somewhere on the other side of the training ground—the younger girl, Hanabi had managed to defeat her sister, who was now lying on the ground, her face making full-contact with the floor. Even though Hinata wasn't looking her way, Sakura could see the blood dripping from her mouth and most likely her broken nose. _I have to help her—_

Someone was holding her arm, preventing her from helping the injured Hinata.

"What on earth is wrong with you? She's injured!"

"And is there anything you can do, Sakura?"

"…"

"So I thought."

"Actually, there's _something_ I can do. I can just stay by her side and assure her that—"

"That she just lost from her younger sister?"

"That she will be alright!"

"Or that she's such a disappointment to her father?"

"You bastard, just shut up!"

"Or that she will never become stronger?"

"She _will_ , I tell you, she _will_!"

"You can _not—_ "

"Neji. Sakura."

Sakura and Neji adverted their gaze from each other to the firm-looking man standing right on the spot where Hinata had been lying, Hanabi a few steps behind him. He was staring at them so coldly that Sakura couldn't help but wonder what was _wrong_ with him— _wrong_ as in the your-daughter-just-got-beaten-up-by-her-own-sister-and-she-was-coughing-blood-but-you-still-had-the-time-to-be-mad-at-me wrong. Maybe he was one of that men who had let power and pride controlled him. Whatever it was, Sakura didn't like it.

"Hai, Hiashi-sama?"

"You two, spar."

"W-w-what? Me and him—"

Neji gave her an almost reassuring look before he spoke up quite bravely to his uncle,

"Hiashi-sama, I do believe that Sakura is… how do I put this—weaker than me by a wide margin, which resulted to a spar with an already determined winner."

Sakura didn't quite agree with him— _how dare he said that I was weaker than him!_ —but didn't speak her disagreement out either, because firsly, she didn't know how strong the Hyuga standing next to her was, and secondly, she would love to stay silent and avoid talking or communicating in any way with the cold-blooded clan leader.

"Well, unlike you, Neji, I believed that fate is not _that_ unchangeable."

If Neji was annoyed with his belief being insulted, he didn't show it in front of Hiashi. He just took a deep breathe and eyed Sakura, as if saying _I'm really sorry_. And Sakura felt sorry too, for herself, for the boy's—Neji's—unspeakble grudge, for the cold-blooded clan leader, for the beaten-up girl, Hinata, and even for Hanabi, who was for sure going to spend the rest of her life trying to catch up with her father's ambition. _What am I thinking about_ , Sakura shook her head. _I have to focus. Defeat him. What's so hard about it, anyways?_


End file.
